CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
January, 14, 2003
www.charter97.org
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THREE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF ZUBR
11:37 14/01/2004, ZUBR Press Service

Today is the third anniversary of the resistance movement Zubr  the largest
youth organization in Belarus. Activists of the movement have celebrated this
date with new actions.  Before the January 14 several forbidden national flags
were hung in different districts of Minsk. White-red-white flag unfurled over
the streets and buildings in Serabranka (Rakassowsi avenue) and Malinawka (Slabadzkaya
street), and in the center of the city, by the central railway station.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2004/01/14/zubr

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LEADER OF JEWISH ORGANIZATION ARRESTED IN MINSK
14:33 14/01/2004

Jakov Gutman, the chairman of the World Association of Belarusan Jewry (WABJ),
was detained by police officers for a picket in Minsk in front of the building
of the Presidential Administration on January 14. Jakov Gutman tried to unfold
a poster with the appeal to the president "to stop demolition of Jewish sacred
places, Jewish cemeteries, and the memorial to the victims of Holocaust". According
to Interfax agency, Gutman was taken to the city police department for identification
and clarification of motives of his actions.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2004/01/14/gutman

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US OFFICIAL SEES LOOMING CRISIS FOR BELARUS ECONOMY
13:21 14/01/2004, gazeta.ru

A senior U.S. official said on Tuesday Belarus needed to loosen state control
of the economy to avert a possible crisis in the impoverished former Soviet state.
President Alexander Lukashenko, isolated by the West for resisting reforms, is
hostile to foreign investment and fears losing some power if he changes the Soviet-style
economy, said the State Department official, who asked not to be named. But low
productivity, a need to print money to pay state salaries and signs its key importer,
Russia, is demanding higher quality goods, may force Belarus to become more market-oriented,
he told reporters.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2004/01/14/crisis

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INDEPENDENT MASS MEDIA FEAR BE LEFT WITHOUT TV SCHEDULE
12:08 14/01/2004

Since the beginning of the new year the state TV and Radio company handed over
the exclusive rights for distribution of TV programs to the Belarusian news agency
BELTA. The result could be seen at once, as the readers of the first issue of
the independent newspaper "Belorusskaya Gazeta" received it without usual TV
program in it.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2004/01/14/smi

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JUDGES ARE FORBIDDEN TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION ON LEGAL PROCESSES
11:40 14/01/2004

Judge of the Economic Court of Hrodna region Syarhei Kulakowski forbade the reporter
of the newspaper "Dyen" to give details of the legal process on the suit of Volha
Kunyawskaya against Hrodna regional executive committee. This case was considered
in the Economic court of Hrodna region and attracted attention of all independent
mass media in Hrodna, pahonia.promedia.by informs.
http://www.charter97.org/eng/news/2004/01/14/info

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CHARTER'97 BELARUS NEWS UPDATE
December, 14, 2003
www.charter97.org